Romain Genevois

Romain Genevois (born 28 October 1987) is a Haitian professional footballer who most recently played as a defender for Stade Malherbe Caen of the Ligue 1 in France.

Romain Genevois
Personal information
Full name Romain Genevois
Date of birth (1987-10-28) October 28, 1987
Place of birth L'Estère, Haiti
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
2000–2006 Gueugnon
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2009 Gueugnon 33 (1)
2009–2012 Tours 100 (10)
2012–2016 Nice 91 (1)
2012–2016 Nice B 1 (0)
2016–2019 Caen 43 (0)
National team‡
2008– Haiti 10 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 09:29, 6 August 2019 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 09:29, 6 August 2019 (UTC)

Early years

Genevois was born in L'Estère, Haiti. At the age 3, he was separated from his biological parents who had difficulty raising him. He was then adopted, along with his younger brother, by a French couple who could not have children. He arrived in France on 5 February 1991 and grew up in Montcenis, a small town of Saône-et-Loire where his parents had chosen to live.[1]

Club career

Genevois came up through FC Gueugnon's youth ranks to make his first team debut in the 2006–07 season.[2] He moved to Tours FC in 2009 returning to Ligue 2. He then signed with OGC Nice in 2012 and concluded his tenure with a fourth-place finish and qualification to the UEFA Europa League in 2016. Genevois signed a three-year contract to play for Stade Malherbe Caen.[3]

In his career, Genevois has recorded over one hundred games in Ligue 1 and 286 in the pros and has made several trips to the European Cup.[3]

International career

He made his debut for Haiti in the February 2008 friendly series against Venezuela, which served as a warm-up for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Nicaragua or the Netherlands Antilles.

In 2013, Genevois was interviewed by Nice-Matin, which he made clear that he was not a Haitian international as was often said and was 100% French. He cited that he had never signed any document to keep dual citizenship and did not accept Haitian nationality. He claims to have responded to a call for a friendly match in Venezuela, but said it did not officially count as he did not go through Haiti.[1] After spending a week with the team, which he recalls a good memory, organization was an issue.[1] He first recalls arriving in the morning at a Florida airport, only to be picked up in the evening and did not know who the national coach was. This bad experience led him to further pursuit his pro career in France.[3] He was later contacted by team officials to rejoin, but did not want to go to Haiti citing its difficult conditions and thus not revisited the island since leaving for France in his early childhood.[1]

In 2016, that changed when he finally accepted the solicitations of the Haitian selection under the new coach, Patrice Neveu. During this second stint with the national team, his outlook differed and stated his pleasure to be able to play for his country of origin and that things has really changed. He cites that something is building and there is room for optimism in Haitian football evoking its entry in the Copa America as "a very good experience, a very nice competition."[3] He was one of the 23 players selected for the 2016 Copa América,[4] which was the first time in its history to allow qualifications from countries outside of CONMEBOL, thus Haiti managed to qualify and enter for the first time.

Personal life

Genevois is married[5] and is a father of two, a daughter and a son.[3] He, along with his parents, has sent donations to Haiti through the association that allowed his adoption.[1]

References
  1. Delgoulet, Antoine, ed. (6 February 2013). "OGC Nice: Genevois, la belle histoire" (in French). Nice-Matin. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  2. Career stats Archived 2008-04-08 at the Wayback Machine – France Football
  3. Alexandre, Legupeterson, ed. (12 August 2016). "Le football vu autrement par Romain Genevois" (in French). Le Nouvelliste. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  4. Versiere, Esther, ed. (20 May 2016). "Haiti Press Network - Haïti-Copa America: Les 23 haïtiens choisis pour disputer la coupe de 100 ans" (in French). HPN Haiti. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
  5. Press, ed. (7 April 2015). "Les Genevois au Service de la Bonne Cause" (in French). OGC Nice. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
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